Nighttime Routines
by The Son of Logan and Ororo
Summary: In time of war, people need things to count on, like routines that don't change. Something they can control in times of chaos. (No names but you'll know who.)


Nighttime Routines  
  
I do not own the characters of X-Men: Evolution. They are belong to their respective creators.  
  
  
  
  
  
2010. Earth has been ravaged by war for the past six years. In late 2003, when the governments of the world discovered that the mutant population of the Earth had become over ten million, Presidents, Kings, Dictators, and all other types of heads of countries decided that mutants must be wiped out to insure that homo sapien and not homo superior was the dominant species. On April 23, 2004, the first wave of Sentinals landed in New York City, signaling the end of any thoughts of the possiblity of peace through out the world.  
  
As mutants struggled to survive, communities using technology to shield mutant energy signals from the Sentinals began to spring up in many different countries and cities. Within these communities, residents do whatever they can to enjoy the times that they are not fighting for their very existence. Movies that do not contain anti-mutant sentiment are stolen from the human run areas of the world. Artificial lakes and forest areas were created for places of relaxation. There are also places for communal meals so if residents so desire, friends and families can enjoy each others' company while eating.  
  
One thing that was stressed by certain people that had psychology and psychiatrict degrees was that something to help keep one's sanity intact was that a person needed was a routine of some sort. When the world seemed chaotic and impossible to handle, one's routine will be their for that person to remind he or she that their is something that he or she can control. Whether it be eating your foods in a certain way, getting maintenance procedures done in a certain order, or just simply the path one takes when going to ceratin areas.  
  
One particular married couple had chosen that their routine would be when they prepared for bed. They chose that so after they had captured some control out of chaos, they would finish it with holding each other and reassuring one another about the world.  
  
A woman with short black hair stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom connected to her and her husband's bedroom. As she spat out the water she used to rinse her mouth out from the remaining taste of toothpaste, her husband walked in.  
  
"Man, today was longer than usual it seemed." he said walking behind her to start the shower.  
  
She smirked. "That was only because you were on waste recycling duty today, dear."  
  
He sighed. "Why do I have to do it anyways? Everybody knows Forge made me into one of the best engineers around. I should have been working on that glitch in the greenhouse rehydration system." He let out a groan of dissatisfaction as he took of his shirt and placed it in the hamper. "I swear Baldy and One-Eye are still have it in for me because of my first time at the mansion."  
  
His wife just shook her head as she walked out into the bedroom. Best to let him release his steam. She approached the small table next to her side of the bed. She opened the drawer and took out a novel about vampires. She settled into bed and began the next chapter of her book as she heard her husband humming some old rock tune as he showered.  
  
After a while, the sound of his humming and the sound of water ended. The next few minutes would be spent by him brushing his teeth and then getting on his pajamas, so she figured that she just might finish her current chapter before he got into bed. The soft 'shukah shukah' sound of a toothbrush being used resonated ever so quietly from the bathroom. Next came the faucet running to clean the brush with a small gargling session to top it all off.  
  
She looked up from her book as she watched him emerge from the bathroom. Him topless while wearing pajama bottoms and carrying his left arm in his right hand. "Remind me to talk to Forge tomorrow. Everytime I reached behind me for something, the fingers would twitch."  
  
"What do you think's wrong with it?" she asked as she put her book back in it's usual place.  
  
"Don't know." he as he placed the prosthetic limb on the dresser. "Maybe it was the main servos, Maybe it was just simply a loose wire. Whatever it is, Forge will fix it."  
  
His wife simply looked at the artificial limb sitting on their dresser. Everytime she looked at his left arm or his left leg, it always reminded her of his sacrifices for her. Heck, just looking at him reminded of them. All of the mean things she ever said to him, all of the times he was the outlet for her anger, and he still took two Sentinal blasts the were meant for her when she was dazed from a flash grenade. He wasn't the only one changed after that. She knew she couldn't turn him away again everytime he got near. She couldn't let him not get close to her heart after that day.  
  
He sat down on his side of their bed and reached down to undo the harness for his left leg. He sighed as the robotic extremity came off of the stump that ended just below his left knee. His wife looked over at him as he did that and noticed something that should not have been on his body.  
  
"What is that?" she asked looking and his left shoulder.  
  
He turned toward her. "What's what?"  
  
"That." she said pointing to a red, rash like mark on where his left arm should have been. "You didn't use your powder again did you?" she asked with a small glare.  
  
"Well we're out of it and I needed to get to my duty shift." he replied with a sheepish look on his face.  
  
She sighed. "And how were you able to do your job correctly when your prosthetics are making you itch?"  
  
"I've just learned to deal with it. It's no big deal."  
  
"Men. Never take the small things seriously."  
  
He sighed still mainly facing away from her. "I'll get some more powder tomorrow. I promise."  
  
"Thank you." she said softly. She shifted herself to face him better and slowly brought her left hand up to the area of scar tissue that was once the place of his arm. Her fingernails just barely glanced his skin when he made a hissing sound with his teeth as he brought in a quick breath of air due to the sensation of his wife's touch. "I just don't like it when you aren't comfortable." she said in a whisper. She scratched his shoulder lightly, doing what she could to get rid of the itch that she knew was there.  
  
He brought his right hand up to there and placed it over her hand. They clasped their hands together in a bond that wasn't the strongest connection that history had known physically, but an emotional one that could not be broken even by all of the Sentinals on Earth. "I know and I'm sorry." he said just as softly.  
  
With their hands still joined, he turned around and faced her. He looked into the blue eyes he had gazed into many times before and each time their eyes met, every way somebody could say 'I Love You' was sent back and forth a million times over. He leaned toward her and their lips met for who knows how many times of their relationship. But they didn't care to keep count because each time was a wonderous, new experience. They savored each one of them because they knew that they didn't know when the last one will be.  
  
He brought his right hand to her extremely pregnant belly. As he laid his palm flat against the satin of her nightgown, their son let him know that everything inside was okay with a pretty good kick.  
  
He and his wife settled their bodies into bed as comfortably as they could get. She let out a sigh as her belly got into just the right position and her husband draped his arm over her. They looked into each others' eyes for probably the last time before the morning. "Good night." she said with a yawn.  
  
"Night sweetie."  
  
She opened her closing eyes and stared at him hard. "Sweetie?" she asked with a small growl in her voice as she brought her left hand near his face. A hex ball was in her cupped hand just waiting to be thrown.  
  
He chuckled. "Okay, Okay. Night Cuddlebumps."  
  
She smiled and let the hex ball dissipate. "That's better." she said through another yawn. "Get the lights please?"  
  
He lifted his head a bit and a 'thwack' sounded in the room as an extremely long, near-prehensile tongue shot across the bedroom and hit the light switch, plunging the room into darkness.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Just a little WAFF thought I had to get out of my head. Hope ya'll enjoyed it. 


End file.
